E3 2004: Brothers in Arms Hands-On

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All that's missing are the push-ups.

By Steve Butts

It's D+5 now and it seems as if we have to fight each battle twice -- once to win a foothold and once again to keep it. The whole thing depends on our being able to take Carentan and its bridges, some of the few practical roads leading south now that the Germans have flooded the area. We've been here six days and, after making our way down through Foucarville and Vierville, we're almost there.

I can see Carentan off in the distance now, hazy but persuasively real. If we can make it by tomorrow, we might be able to keep up the momentum and keep taking ground from the Germans. If we get bogged down by the stiff resistance and frequent counterattacks, this whole thing's likely to grind to a halt real quick.

The other members of my squad laze in the shadow of a crashed glider. One guy complains about the lack of food. "How does a guy get something to eat around here?" he asks. "The Krauts have plenty to eat," his squadmate offers. "Go ask one of them."

Not wanting to get involved in the discussion and figuring we should get going, I approach Captain Cole for my orders. It seems that today the Krauts are in counterattack mode, trying to push through our lines. It's too bad for them that they happen to be pushing in right in our direction. Cole says we stand or die here; there are no retreats. He sends us on our way with this final encouragement: "If you run out of ammo, fix bayonets."

My immediate objective is to take a nearby farmhouse. I have two fire teams at my disposal. One is my base of fire element. Armed with M1 Garands and the BAR, they're responsible for laying down a heavy screen of fire so that my assault element, armed with the lower-caliber M1 carbines and Tommy submachine guns, can outflank the enemy. Each man's pockets and pouches are filled with the specific type of ammunition he uses ensuring that no one will run out in the coming fight.

Though our mission area is small, it's surprisingly open with a variety of paths to each objective. In making my way towards the farmhouse, I need to ensure that we've got the angles on the enemy; that we're able to fire on him from more than one position. Managing these overlapping fields of fire is my job. Thankfully, everyone on my team knows how to do their job; I just have to tell them where to stand and they'll figure the rest out.

The first concern is that we have good cover. There's a road that runs from left to right in front of us. On the other side of the road, we have an open yard bounded by a fence on our left and a large two-story building on our right. I send the base of fire team up to the fence and they see Germans almost immediately at the far end of the yard and in the street beyond it.

Since this is the team with the BAR, they ought to be able to handle this while I move the assault squad into position. I call them up and place them up against the wall of the building on our right in preparation for going around the house and coming up on the Germans' left. While they're coming up, my base of fire team is keeping the Germans' heads down. The BAR gunner in particular is causing many enemies to shrink away. As he suppresses one, he moves on to another, coming back to the first one if he musters enough nerve to poke his head out again. When the enemy is suppressed, not only is he not likely to be firing back at you, he's also more likely to miss when he bothers to take the chance.